Two Nobel Peace Laureates provide us in-depth analyses of important events this month.

Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire gave a major speech at the Peace Event in Sarajevo and deplored the direction being taken by Europe: "we are witnessing the growing militarization of Europe, its role as a driving force for armaments, and its dangerous path, under the leadership of the USA/NATO, towards a new 'cold' war and military aggression. Maguire called for the abolition of NATO and the reform of the United Nations: "The UN should actively take up its mandate to save the world from the scourge of war."

According to participants in the Sarajevo event, the remarks by Maguire and other speakers broke new ground, addressing subjects such as NATO that have been taboo in the past. "Peace is possible" - this was the common mood at the Sarajevo event. We want "no more war and conflicts have to be resolved peacefully" - was the message of more than 900 people and peace activists from 32 countries at the opening ceremony. "Let the Sarajevo, where peace ended, be the starting point for the bold beginning of a universal call for peace through the wholesale abolition of militarism." Again and again the importance of the UNESCO culture of peace program as an alternative program to war and militarization was emphasized.

Another Nobel laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, tells us why it was important that the Presbyterian Church in the United States voted to divest its funds from corporations that aid the Israeli occupation of Palestine. "I am especially urging the assembly to adopt the overture naming Israel as an apartheid state through its domestic policies and maintenance of the occupation and the overture calling for divestment of certain companies that contribute to the occupation of the Palestinian people." Archbishop Tutu goes on to say that "The parallels to my own beloved South Africa are painfully stark indeed . . . We learned in South Africa that the only way to end apartheid peacefully was to force the powerful to the table through economic pressure."

The vote was close but the Presbyterian General Assembly voted to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard because of their involvement in the Israeli military occupation. This follows two other similar actions in recent weeks: The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the US decided to divest from a private security company that supplies equipment for Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation sold off their shares in the same company.

Other in-depth analyses of the divestment by the Presbyterian church are available in the discussion section for the preceding articles.

Meanwhile, the peace processes in Colombia and the Philippines, which were discussed in the May bulletin, continue to advance. In Colombia, the incumbent president won re-election by promising to continue the peace process. And in the Philippines, the conference, entitled "Peace is Living Together Religions and Cultures in Dialogue for Peace and Reconciliation in Mindanao" attracted national and local government officials, as well as those from Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mindanao universities, diplomats, and non-government organizations from the Philippines and other countries, as well as many youth.

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